Mumbai, Feb 4 (PTI) Dalit scholar and rights activist Anand Teltumbde, who was briefly arrested by the Pune police last week in the Elgaar Parishad case, Monday said the "Urban Maoist" was a bogey that was being raised to "silence" those who raise their voice against policies of the government.
Teltumbde, who teaches at the Goa Institute of Management, was arrested by Pune police Saturday at the Mumbai airport, despite the supreme court having granted him time till February 11 to seek anticipatory bail.
A Pune sessions court, which had Friday rejected Teltumbde's anticipatory bail application, Saturday ordered his release, saying his arrest amounted to contempt of the Supreme Court's order.
During his interaction with journalists at the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh, Teltumbde termed his arrest as a "wildest post independence plot by the state against it's own citizen".
He said the police had framed him in the case.
Responding to a query on urban Maoism, the Dalit scholar said, "Maoism originated from villages and there is nothing like an urban Maoist. It is deceptive nomenclature, which is a fabricated and false accusation".
The word "urban Naxals" was used by the Pune police during their probe into the Elgaar Parishad conclave held on December 31, 2017.
Police claimed that the inciting speeched made at that event triggered caste clashes in Koregaon-Bhima village in Pune district on January 1, 2018 during an event to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle between the Peshwas and the British forces.
Teltumbde said the "urban maoism" terminology is a "formula" to silence voices of those people who show courage to question the government policies and speak for safeguarding their democratic rights.
He parried a question on the people responsible for his "false implication".
"I will not able to tell, but it is like looking at the sky. Whose name should I take, to whom I should blame, who runs the country," he said.
Teltumbde said, "This case was a frame-up by police.
This is the wildest post-Independence plot by the state against its own citizen. This action is not against me or anybody else but against all Indian nationals. The action (to book me) was born out of vengeance".
"Someone writes a letter to somebody by mentioning some person's name, and police take action on the basis on those names in the letter. They book that person under UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act), which is illegal and against law," he said, adding in such cases the individual remains defenceless.
